Well, well, well… look who has decided to start hitting for the Cubs. It hasn’t just happened overnight; he has been hitting for a few weeks now. Lots of hard contact, lasers all over the field; finally, we’re starting to see them leave the yard now. Joc Pederson hit 2 home runs yesterday in Pittsburgh to help the Cubs comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3. What’s up Joc?!?
It’s gotta be the mustache right? Well, whatever it is, it’s great to see. All those blasts in spring training had us anticipating some greatness; that didn’t immediately translate over… not saying it’s totally there yet either, but he’s getting there. We were in attendance for his first blast at home against Milwaukee. We all remember what he thought was a home run, when he pimped that sucker, and it turned out to be a sac fly; that was kind of embarrassing. No pimping Joc, unless of course you absolutely murder it, and are absolutely positively sure that it is gone, then go for it. The replacement for a fan favorite, I wasn’t so excited about his arrival. Sure, the spring training home runs helped, but the fact he came from LA too… and of course was our answer for Schwarber leaving. Then he started off like shit… I knew he’d suck, but wait… maybe not. Another example where I will be very happy to be wrong.
Ross has him batting leadoff, which doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m all for Nico at the leadoff spot sooner than later, but… after he went down in a heap last night, it will be later… much later unfortunately. That really sucked. Nico has been great, at the dish and in the field. Losing him for a couple weeks minimum will hurt. But hey, we just signed Dee Gordon! We’ll see.
But yeah, going down early in Pittsburgh yesterday, the site of one of Jake’s masterful performances back in the 2015 Wild Card game, I wasn’t worried. Maybe it was the fact that the Pirates had some no name on the mound… although the Cubs will get blanked by no names. Maybe it’s the fact that the offense has been putting up runs. Maybe it’s the fact that the Cubs have the 2nd best record in the National League in May. Once the Cubs did come back, and take the lead on a Rizzo routine grounder to SS that went into the outfield due to the shift… hey, he’s owed some of those… all those rockets he hits into the shift, I felt really good. Who said the Cubs bullpen was the strength of this team more than a month ago? This guy. Don’t believe me? OK, here:
They flashed some absolutely ridiculous stat last night that showed the recent success of the Cubs bullpen… wow! Absolutely lights out. I don’t remember the numbers, but trust me. Even with Steele going down, the Cubs have a wealth of arms in the bullpen. For me, it all started seeing how Kimbrel was back to being Kimbrel. He shut the door last night after giving up a lead off double in the 9th.
With the win, and the Sox beating the Cardinals… did I say thank you to the Sox and their fans yet?.. the Cubs are now 0.5 games out of 1st place, with 2 more games in Pittsburgh to go. Will we be able to say 1st place Cubs soon? Stay tuned. Go Cubs!
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